Back on Cricket

Back from MN. Ben's Brother and sister-in-law are with us for 6 days as we tour around St. Mary's. We are having a great time. (and me being the practical one is a bit nervous about our departure date... but Ben will say, "We'll make it and if we don't. what is the worst that can happen? we stay in the Caribbean."

Our electrical chartplotter, radar units have been sent back under warranty! they all came back to us "new"! our batteries we will be shipping back next thursday.  That means we have replaced our full electronic... chart plotter, radar unit, inverter/charger, and batteries.  Wow I'm so glad they were under warranty other wise I would be sooo sad!

Now we are looking at possible having more solar and or wind-mill generator. We are not sure what to get... or get both? we don't want over kill. We are such a cute boat wthout all that stuff on it... on the other hand it would be nice to be totally self sufficient on wind or sun! Imagine??? not having to use fuel diesel or gas for our gas generator.

well tomorrow we run off to cumberland island. Sunday we are going to hoist Dan or Ben up the mast to put together our radar unit! fun!

peace to you all
Pam

sailing the high seas again

Sailing the high seas again!

Not on our boat but Ben and I helped Ron from DawnTrader sail his boat from GA to west Palm Beach FL. This will be a memorable trip... The head overflowed a little but never pleasant to take care of (poor Ron,), he cut his arm - not bad-, the French press coffee pot fell and shattered and I had a ten minute rough go of my midnight shift.

There were many factors that lead us to going with Ron as opposed to working on the boat. He is an experienced sailor. He knows single side band and weather and sail mail email system from the SSB. It would be a good learning experience for both of us. I was torn... To stay and keep working or to go with and learn.

I did not want to be left behind so away 3 of us went for a short 60 hour sail.

It's amazing how rusty a person gets when you haven't been sailing in a while.

The first day is always exciting as you head "out" to sea.  Leaving the land behind and wondering if the weather report is close or way off.

It was good to sail with someone else being the captain. I could just be told what to do. There was never a time I disagreed with his decision... A few times I might have made a different decision but it was all good.

He set our watches (not the kind on your wrist) but the kind that is also called "taking shifts" every 4hours. Sweet. Imagine what it would be like  to go have 4 hrs on and 8 hrs off! I could not wait. To my surprise I think I was just as tired as when it was just me and Ben but that is because what sleep can one get after three days?

The first night when we go to sleep there is too much noise and movement to actually sleep. One would think you would be lulled to sleep. Not in my case or in either of our situations. We all said the same thing. The first time off our watch we could not sleep! Then you are a zombie for a day, the next night watch you sleep way better when you are off.

My first night I had thoughts of... Oh my how will we make it on long crossings. The wind was normal 10-15k but on our nose and since we had a plane to catch we had to make time so we motor sailed. That means the waves were quite rocking and rolling. Up and down. So on my first night from 8-midnight I was tired from the night before where we packed and got up early. I looked out into the gray sky, dark water, moon full, and a head ache to beat all head aches and pondered... Wow.... Or why?

The second night my watch again from 8-midnight. Was more easterly winds just off the nose! It was a comfortable tack! The auto pilot finally settled down into working! I had the most blissful night sail for two hours! I stood up to stretch, look for boats, and breath deep as the waves smoothly and calmly rolled by our beam. I thought, "how fun is this, what a great night of sailing, the moon is perfectly full, I can move around the deck cuz the auto pilot is working! It will be so fun to sail to New Zealand! I'm ready for the adventure!

Then all of a sudden a boat blipped on the screen. One I had not noticed because I know it was not there. I can see AIS warnings 50 miles out but for some reason this boat waited to show up until It was directly infront of us about 9 miles out. A tug towing a huge barge. He was not going to budge away from his heading it seemed. I yelled down for Ben to just let me know his ideas but he did not hear me. I said out loud.... I can do this on my own... The Tug is 9nm away going at 11 knots I am going at 6 knots we will crash in... Oh I should hail him... But first I made a drastic course change I went 90 degrees to port. At this rate I will be out of his way and cross over his path. I stayed off course for 1 mile then turned back on course we passed each other 1.8 miles from side to side.

Phew! To me it was hard because I don't like his cockpit. No offense Ron. It is not made for someone 5' 1" ! The VHF radio to hail boats is on the starboard. The chart plotter is on the port, the auto pilot is near your feet, he has splash guards up so when I'm standing on the floor of the cockpit (which is full of water a weird quirk of the boat.) I in no way can see right or left unless I stand straddle the opposite seats! When standing in the cockpit I can reach the auto pitot but of course at this exact moment the winds picked up and the auto pilot was swinging 20 degrees port thne swing back to starboard... I'm sure I was confusing the tug watching me zig zag. To make me frustrated even more when walking from the helm to the chart plotter 6feet forward I tripped on 2 lines that span across the seat and then my tether got stuck under the cushion. (note to self , I don't like cushions too easy to trip and I feel bad to step on them with wet boots so just move them below next time.)

Ok imagine the tug looking at me zig zagging... I'm trying to set the auto pilot so I can run up to the chart plotter cuz it keeps beeping, "warning warning dangerously close vessel..." I disengage the auto pilot and think I'll hand steer... I soon find out I can't hand steer his boat backward cuz it is too hard to move with the auto pilot belt on his wheel. I shut off the chart plotter warning so as to not wake people below and so I can see the screen. I put my cursor on the AIS vessel to get the name... A wind blows us off course again. I pull hard on the sluggish wheel finally I get the name of the tug "sea horse" cute name. Now I hustle back to the starboard to grab the radio to hail him... But first grab the wheel again... Shoot... I hop in the water again ... get us on course, try the auto pilot settings again, now grab the radio... "Sssss" beep beep. Arggg that alarm is so loud... Ok turn off the warning but this time I had also changed the chart plotter to head up... (digress .... You can have the view of the chart to always be north facing up so if we are moving south the view is opposite. So if I want to turn right the chart plotter will look like I need to go left. But if I have the view of head up that means whatever I see ahead of me that will be mirrored on the chart plotter. Things on the right will be on the right. Ron likes north up...he is a navy man... It is an easy view switch on the chart... So with all this commotion I changed the view for my watch and was much more calm.) so now I could see his angle better knowing that we will pass each other.

No need to hail him.  All is good. I did the right thing. It was a good drill for me. I know I could have yelled for Ben to wake up but I didn't feel like I was " that close". Still it woke me up. After that the auto pilot did not like much of anything until finally it settled down an hour later.  I like our boat. When I pop the auto pilot I have easy controls for turning the wheel. I can see on both sides. I can reach the chart plotter without leaving the helm, I can use the radio with ease.

It was fun to be on someone's boat. I do have to say I covet his "lazy jacks". The company was good, the food was good, the sailing was good. All in all a good trip. I'd do it again.

We came in to the intercostal waterway ICW. That was fun to see again.  Ben piloted through all that low water excellently we never got stuck on a sand bar!

That night we were all exhausted after getting only 4 hours of solid sleep. I was out at 9pm but at 2am I woke up wide awake ready for my 4 hour watch. Ha ha even the second night I slept hard but woke up after 4 hours feeling refreshed ready for a shift. Funny.

Back home for a week for a funeral. Ben's dad funeral. It will have hard parts and good parts. It will be good to see the family and hard to say goodbye.

No blog till Dec first. 

Blessings

Pam

Chilly in Georgia

Last night it hit 34 degrees. I would not trade my down sleeping bag for anything! I was warm allll night long.  the only problem is getting out of the sleeping bag. brrrr luckily I had a hot flash and I quick jumped up to get dressed during the hot flash. ha ha

this past week we have diligently been working on our list that keeps getting longer not shorter. The electrician is baffled to our "drain" on the batteries. But he is getting closer... we can feel it.  Actually we were thinking of laying hands on the hull to dispel all the electrical gremlins! It can't hurt. ha ha  Our chart plotter stopped working and the radar would not connect.  so we sent both back to the manufacture. it is under warranty! phew

Ben has been working hard on the grounding of our Single Side Band.  our communication that we will use while off shore.  SSB will also allow us for email and for weather faxes.  It is essential that it work!

Not that I am pessimistic but maybe a realist.  Sometimes I think, " we will never get our essential list done in time" and then Ben will say "We will get it done and the worst that can happen is we just sail to the Caribbean and hang out there for most of the year and leave next year." So it will be what it will be.  we are on "sailing" time.

Ben's father passed away and we will be home for a week, then back for thanksgiving when his brother and wife will visit us.  So that is 2 weeks of not working on the boat. we will be in MN for christmas for 2 weeks.  So we have about 15 days to get our list done.  Although we could leave as late as January 20th and we think we could still hit Panama in March but that is cutting it close.  we also could hang out in Panama for a while too.  We have heard it is a great and cheap place to hang out. And fresh fruit and veggies a plenty.

This past week has been days of to-do list after to-do list.  I have finished the painting of the bow sprit! finally I get to check it off my list.  the sea cocks need to be worked but I'm too weak. Ben got them all checked except 2.  so what do we do with that? we will continue to oil them and see if they come loose. One of our surprise was Mabelle, noticed water weeping from the rudder.  She said that means water is getting in the rudder.  Hummm people would walk by and say... just drill a few holes in the rudder.  Easy for them to say.  Sounds like a lot of work to patch the holes if you ask me.  Well Ben got enough gumption to drill.... and it was a good thing cuz he hit one place and out gushed a lot of water! so now that needs to dry and then we need to fill the holes but why was there water in their in the first place? we don't want to put a bandaid on a problem and that is the moment I thought, "ummm maybe we won't make the deadline this year?"

that is the update.  Lila update... she came into our bunk soaking wet again! AND MUDDY! silly girl!

Oh this weekend we will be helping a fellow sailor sail off shore to West Palm.  he is a single handler and wanted someone to help him sail 3 days on the outside.  We thought it be good to sail with an experienced captain.  The seas are 6-8 NW winds... that is fine with me but the temperature is going to be 40 at night BRRRRR! with wind!! Not looking forward to my 4 hour shift.

so will be off shore till Tuesday. no blog... then to MN

miss you all!
Pam

another day in the boatyard

Another day in the boat yard…

I’ll blog about my day and then I might not blog everyday if it is the same kind of thing but different project. So here was my boring day as a news worthy blog. They are all like this – blah-bloggably-boring for most of you but exciting full of learning for me and Ben.

Well today was not typical cuz we were a bit more lazy than normal. I woke up my usual way… thinking about work and how to improve it or what kind of a webinar I want to teach.  I have my full Deaf mentor webinar finished in my head now I just have to video it.

It is cold here so getting out from a warm down sleeping bag is tough… very tough! Especially when your hubby is snoring away in slumber. He stays up later than me and I get up earlier than him.

I got out easier than normal cuz I got a hot flash and then it is easy to get dressed in a cold place. (48 degrees this morning)

I made coffee as usual. Now it is essential to make something warm to drink. Then I perused through the sailing maintenance handbook. Thought I would learn something… seacock’s came to me since they need to be lubed and exercised.  I read 3 pages of how it is important to make sure your seacock’s are in good working order. Blah blah blah but never once did it say what to use? WD40? Grease? Silicone? Vegtable oil? Nothing? But I can tell you it is important.  So I asked the local boatyard guru everyday boater, Ken, and he said just work them and if you need use vegetable oil. All that reading for nothing.

Then I went to bilge pumps a full chapter was on where to put it, how to hook it up but no where is there how to service your “manual” bilge pump. Crazy again! My philosophy in life is… if someone can teach you why read about it!

I next read about diesel fuel polishing. Diesel fuel gets micro bacterial stuff in the fuel and makes it gunky.  So I perused the internet and found a youtube video.

Ben then woke up and I said we can do this. He asked where do we rent a polishing unit? No clue.

I went to the boatyard bathroom which by the way is one shower and one toilet for about 25-30 people! The toilet is often plugged and 50% of the time there is no toilet paper! Annoying! There was Mabel the best character ever! She’s got your back. She is the sister of the person that owns the place. I asked her where to rent a diesel polisher and she points to the shed and says, ‘Oh Rocky (that is her nephew that runs the boatyard) he rents a polisher” SWEET!

So all my researching was for naught! Ben says I could have stayed in bed!

Ben and I biked to Woody’s house, a local sailor that we meet at the st mary’s yacht club. He and his wife are very sweet and made us lunch.

Then Ben worked really hard at hooking up our shore power as we popped the circuit breaker last night. We networked in the yard with people about various items on our list that we don’t know what to do. 

Then it was time to go to the st marys yacht club meeting. Which is on a houseboat on the river. You walk to the public dock and wave your hands and they will come and dinghy you out to the boat.  There we ate brats, and hamburgers and the reason why we went was so Ben could have a brownie. But while there we networked and got a name of a woman who just was at the Galapagos! We will give her a call when we have time or an email. Exciting and we have gathered more important information for our journey. People are our biggest resource! The boating community is so amazing! They are welcoming and knowledgeable, caring and sweet!

Im Back

I’m back! It is good to be here and hard to be away from all the excitement at work.  Kinda weird.

First a Lila story.  Ben and I came back from a short visit with my sister, Nola and hubby, Ed.  Lila was no where to be found in the boat yard and no one had seen her.  Then the next boat said he lost his cat but then found her stuck in a boat that she had crawled into. So that made Ben and I walk through the boatyard yelling, “Lila, kitty kitty, Lila kitty where are you?”  we walked out on a small tug/barge that the boatyard has.  I heard her jingle. I said, “shhh, I hear her”  Then all of a sudden we heard her meow cry meow cry loudly.  We got closer and closer to the sound.  Here was Lila soaked to the bone. (she is so skinny!)

I picked her up and she was shaking.  We think she walked over to the neighbor’s house past this fence.  On low tide you can walk over but high tide you can’t get across without getting wet. So we think she walked over and got stuck.  If only cats could talk.  Since then she has been so happy to be in the cabin with us! She is prrrr-y and cuddly!

Boat stuff…. Well our list keeps getting longer and longer not shorter! I feel good by our accomplishments. Ben is amazing at keep on going with project after project and each project is something he or I has never done before.  All new to us. Like the picture I am showing is Ben successfully hooking up our modem.  This modem will receive emails (fun for us to communicate with you-all AND weather faxes to help us with the weather forecasting.) Well that is if we can get our SSB to work. )which we found out our ground is wrong.  So hopefully that will get fixed too!

He and I were so excited to see the lights turn on the modem! It was like Christmas! Then he finished putting in the natures head today. (you know a composting toilet.) I have to admit I’m a little nervous about the whole composting toilet… like all the normal questions… where do you bring the dirt/poop? Out at sea it can go over board. What if you can’t find peat moss to make it compost? What if it stinks? What if what if…?  All good questions and answers I only know what the advertisement says. But we do know we had so much trouble last year with out head that this has to be an improvement!

We chose a natures head cuz Ben has been reading the book called Humanure and interesting read about our poop and how it should be put back in the soil.  Once it is in the soil the micro organism will “eat” up the poop and make it into the best dirt for growing and putting nutrients back into the dirt – a win-win for all.  So here we go.  Plus you all have heard our awful stories of our head not working over and over again.  I’ll keep you informed.

Our electrical is still bad… we sent out inverter (DC to AC) and it was bad. So they will send us a new one. But who wants a new one if the last one did not work. What will keep us from not having the same problem.  We just can’t get to the root of the electrical gremlin.  I hope Phil in this boat yard will be able to do it!

What have I been doing? Well working some at ASLIS work and I have been categorizing the inventory on the boat.  It is amazing what the previous owner has put on the boat. We had no idea it was all here… well we knew it was but did not know what something were for but now we are smarter and know what most things are. There are a few mysteries.  I’ll have to take pictures and you all can tell me what you think it is used for. Ha ha

I have also been doing stripping and teaking the wood.  I love teak oil instead of varnish.  Is there something I am missing? Teak oil is easy to do, no running, no mess to clean up, drys fast and is no fuss.  So I’d rather teak once a month that strip everything every 2 years. What a pain!

That is all for now.  No excitement.

Oh here is a picture of a pampered cat back home working with Anne at her desk.  How cute is Kiko the house cat. Everyone should have animals at work! Thanks Anne for taking great care of Kiko while I am gone.